He was one of two people killed by avalanches in Alaska on Saturday, according to Alaska State Troopers. The other was a 44-year-old Anchorage woman skiing near Talkeetna.

The body of Walter J. Coty III, 43, was recovered early Sunday, according to Greg Wilkinson, a trooper spokesman. He was buried under about 4 feet of snow in the avalanche debris field.

Coty was buried in an avalanche Saturday afternoon. He was ``high marking'' on the mountain when the avalanche occurred, according to troopers. High marking is a competition to leave the highest track on a mountain.

Troopers believe Coty had survived another avalanche earlier in the day, one of four in the area that day.

Also killed Saturday was Michele Potkin of Anchorage. A witness told troopers that Potkin and Joseph Kluberton, 18, of Talkeetna were caught in a slide, and then tumbled off a 200-foot cliff, though the avalanche stopped short of the cliff.

The incident occurred about 3 p.m. on Snowshoe Mountain, about 20 miles southeast of Talkeetna near the headwaters of Montana Creek.

Potkin died at the scene despite efforts of fellow members of a wilderness medicine course to revive her. Kluberton was taken by helicopter to Providence Alaska Medical Center in Anchorage. He was treated there and released Saturday evening, according to a hospital spokeswoman.

Potkin and Kluberton were on a wilderness medicine course conducted by the Alaska Mountaineering School in Talkeetna, said Wilkinson of the troopers. They had a day off Saturday and members of the group were using a snowmachine to ferry people up the mountain, then skiing or snowboarding down.

Potkin was on telemark skis and Kluberton was on a snowboard when they tumbled over the cliff, Wilkinson said.